Bears threatened

Alberta designates grizzlies a threatened species.

Critics rightly point out the threatened tag might not even protect them from being hunted again. The province will reassess the hunting ban next year from the point of view of individual management areas and Knight admits the designation doesn’t mean a threatened species can’t be hunted.

The Alberta Wildlife Act was previously changed to permit the minister to authorize hunting of a threatened species.

But it’s not hunting that’s the biggest threat to grizzlies; the bigger threat is when oil and gas and forestry development encroaches into bear country and the public uses their roads for access into the sensitive habitat.

Easy mining

B.C. changes rules for mining companies in caribou habitat.

John Bergenske, executive director of Wildsight, said the change means a professional caribou biologist will not review a mining company’s exploration plans before approval – and that can only hurt the species.

Environmentalists note fewer than 2,000 mountain caribou still exit in B.C. The animal is listed as threatened federally, and is “red-listed” in B.C. – a term that applies to both threatened and endangered species.

Caribou are at risk from logging of old-growth habitat as well as a full range of human activities, including mining and recreational activities. Wolves and cougars are their chief predators.

“With mountain caribou, it’s death by a thousand cuts,” Bergenske said.